A flower-bedecked statue of the Virgin Mary perched on the roof of a Toyota Corolla car received curious glances from Sunday drivers on the Stillorgan Road in Dublin yesterday.
The car was leading a 40-strong national procession from the Church of the Sacred Heart in Donnybrook up the road to RTE to protest at the State broadcaster's new TV version of the Angelus.
Latin hymns and prayers blared from loudspeakers as the protesters marched slowly in the bus lane, apparently unconcerned by other vehicles on the dual carriageway.
"We have got protection," smiled one, clutching rosary beads and nodding in the direction of the Toyota's roof rack.
The march was organised by the Christian Community Alliance, which views as unacceptable the new Angelus format - in which people from all walks of life pause for prayer as the traditional 18 bells are rung.
In a letter handed in yesterday to the Director General of RTE, Mr Bob Collins, the alliance said it was puzzled that nobody in the film clip blessed themselves and that there was no picture of "Our Lady and the Annunciation".
The numbers which turned out had been small, conceded Alliance member Angela O'Connor, but they were representative of many more. According to an RTE spokesman, the audience response to the revised Angelus had been "largely supportive".
The sartorial influence of the Virgin Mary could be seen among the placard-bearing marchers, most notably Ms Clare Morgan (30) from Dublin. She had donned a long blue skirt, a whitish-grey sweatshirt and a bright blue head scarf to keep out the cold, while the back of her sweater bore an image of the Virgin Mary.
She was marching with her sister Bernadette (26), who complained that there was nothing Catholic about the current images shown on RTE at Angelus time.
"There is nobody blessing themselves, nothing about Our Lady . . it is just like an ecumenical thing, but the Angelus is completely Catholic," she said.
Another marcher, who did not want to be named, feared a socialist wing of RTE employees was responsible for the changes.
In the end the protest passed off peacefully, but it was not without potential for trouble. The largely student audience of RTE's satirical quiz, Don't Feed the Gondolas, was let loose at the same time as the Angelus procession arrived outside RTE.
Security guards braced themselves for a clash but the expected confrontation didn't take place. "This could be a tactical move by RTE," suggested one bemused audience member. "They probably thought we would lynch them."